Gig review: The Cribs, Liquid Room, Edinburgh
Now no longer abetted by ex-Smith Johnny Marr on guitar, this early preview date of material from the Cribs’ forthcoming fifth album In the Belly of the Brazen Bull came in a far smaller venue than they’ve been used to for a while.
In the final reckoning, the show reinforced two things about Wakefield’s Jarman and his brothers Ryan (guitar, vocals) and Ross (drums) – that they find it hard to take their foot off the pedal and step back from an exuberantly over-driven indie-rock sound, and that on their best form, they’re still very much a band worthy of the belief their fans show in them. Amidst the noisy tumult, they have a grand way with a yearning key change or a more mature than most lyric, and what snippets of new songs Jaded Youth or Come On, Be a No-One were audible left us wishing for a lyric sheet.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdAt this moment, Ryan’s self-deprecating statement that “you guys like the old school Cribs stuff better, right? It is cooler, I know…” is probably true, but then the new material will probably take a bit of bedding in. It will come though, and the bigger stages will surely return soon.
david pollock